Last season, the Hopkinton girls volleyball team lost just twice all year en route to its second Division 2 state championship in the past three seasons. One of those losses came against Tri-Valley League foe Medfield, so perhaps fittingly it was the Warriors who were back at Hopkinton High School on Wednesday night for the season-opener for both squads.

By Kevin J. Stone/Daily News Correspondent

HOPKINTON — Last season, the Hopkinton girls volleyball team lost just twice all year en route to its second Division 2 state championship in the past three seasons.

One of those losses came against Tri-Valley League foe Medfield, so perhaps fittingly it was the Warriors who were back at Hopkinton High School on Wednesday night for the season-opener for both squads.

And in a bit of stunning deja vu for Hopkinton, Medfield rattled off three straight games after the Hillers took Game 1, earning a 3-1 win to ruin the defending state champ's opening night by game scores of 13-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-22.

The teams split 3-1 decisions against one another last season, and Hopkinton coach Margie Grabmeier had nothing but praise for Medfield this time around.

"You've got to give them a lot of credit. They got momentum on their side and never let it go," Grabmeier said. "After that first game where things really didn't go their way, they didn't let it affect them and really played us tough.

“Hopefully this is a good learning lesson for us since it's still so early in the year."

After a dominant opening game, it didn't take long for the Hillers to face the kind of serious adversity that rarely popped up during the 2016 run — by losing Games 2 and 3, they quickly faced the possibility of losing its opening match.

The Hillers opened Game 4 with an early 3-2 lead, but Medfield knotted things at 5-5 and eventually led 11-8.

A kill by Hopkinton's Jill Czerepuszko later tied things at 11-11. A block by Czerepuszko and an ace by Amanda Gilbert put the Hillers up 13-11, but as was the case seemingly all night, miscues and poor serves allowed the Warriors to eventually tie the game at 15-15 and then make a run to take a 20-15 lead.

Following a timeout, a kill by Jenna Willwerth cut the Hillers’ deficit to 20-16, and another kill by Ivy Gogolin made it 20-17. Medfield pushed it to 24-19, but a bad serve and miscue at the net by Medfield gave the Hillers a bit of life at 24-21. Gilbert hammered an ace to make it 24-22 before Medfield finally closed out the 25-22 win for the match.

"Throughout the years we've always had a good rivalry with them," said Hopkinton tri-captain Rachel Zale. "We all know girls on their team so it's a bit of a friendly rivalry, but I think for us tonight it was just a bit of first night jitters and Medfield played really well too."

Early on, the Hillers appeared in midseason form, building leads of 4-1, 10-5, and eventually 13-6 on a kill by Gogolin in Game 1.

Minutes later a combined block at the net by Czerepuszko and Zale made it 15-7. The lead ballooned to 16-8, and a kill by Zale pushed it to 17-8 before an ace by Amanda Gilbert moments later put the Hillers up 21-8. A kill by Czerepuszko made it 22-9, and after a small run by Medfield made it 24-13, the Hillers closed out Game 1 on a kill by Willwerth.

Game 2 started out in similar fashion as Hopkinton went up 4-1 early, but Medfield would battle back to take a 7-6 lead, putting Hopkinton in a hole for the first time this season.

The teams went back and forth until an ace by Angie Grabmeier put Hopkinton up 14-13. The lead grew to 19-16, but once again the Warriors battled, eventually tying the game at 20-20. At 21-21, Medfield ran off the next four points to earn the huge 25-21 win and make it a 1-1 match.

Once again, the Hillers grabbed a 4-1 lead early in Game 3 but couldn't build on it as Hopkinton found itself down 10-9 before a kill by Willwerth made it 10-10. The Warriors went up 16-15, but a kill by Zale again tied it at 16-16.

From there, Medfield played nearly flawlessly for the remainder of Game 3, outscoring Hopkinton 9-2 to take the 2-1 lead heading into Game 4.

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